Valentine Throw Pillow Tutorial by Diary of a Quilter

My name is Amy Smart and I blog about my sewing adventures at Diary of a Quilter. Today Kari invited me to share a tutorial for a quick and easy Valentine’s Day project. This throw pillow whips up fast and is oh so cute.

Supplies needed:

WonderUnder or HeatNBond – enough to trace 5 hearts

Scraps of fabric for the hearts

Background fabric in the size you desire

Needle and DMC floss for the ‘string’

Batting to stuff the pillow

Backing fabric in the same size as your background fabric for the back of your pillow

First trace a heart template (or draw your own) on the paper side of the WonderUnder/HeatNBond. I googled Heart Template and found dozens if you want a slightly different heart. I used this one, reducing the size a little. My hearts are about 3.5″ long and 2″ wide.

Iron the fusible side to the back of your fabric scraps. You could use a variety of scraps, or if you’re not like me with fabric scraps coming out of your ears, you could use all the same fabric. Felt would be equally adorable.

After the HeatNBond is fused on, cut out fabric hearts. Cut a piece of backing fabric to the size you would like your finished pillow. I used a piece of nubby, linen-type fabric and cut mine 12″ x 21″ – but there’s lots of room for flexibility here. Make it whatever size you want.

Using a water eraseable pen draw a line for the ‘string’ the hearts will hang on. I just eyeballed it. And if I wasn’t happy with the drape of the string, I erased and changed. Don’t stress about this part. You will stitch on this line after the hearts are attached.

Lay your hearts on the ‘string’ line to play with their placement.

You could mark where you would like them to stay permanently.

Start with the center heart when you are ready to adhere the hearts to the backing fabric. Remove the paper backing of the WonderUnder and iron the first heart into place. Repeat with the hearts on the left and right of center, and then finish with the final two hearts.

After hearts are fused to the background fabric, sew around the edges with a sewing machine. Hand stitching would look great too.

After hearts are stitched down, it’s time to stitch the ‘string’ the hearts are ‘hanging from.’ I used 2 strands of some dark gray DMC floss and backstitched along the line I’d drawn on the fabric.

When you get to the edge of the heart come up inside the heart about 3/4″ from the edge, make a 1/2″ stitch” and resume stitching on the other side of the heart, so it looks like the hearts are threaded onto a string, hanging like a banner.

When you’re finished stitching, cut a backing fabric the same size as your front piece. Sew right sides together, leaving an opening at the bottom for stuffing. Turn right-side out and stuff. That’s it! Super easy. The same design could be used as a table runner or wall hanging, instead of a pillow.

Gina-don’t stress too much about the watermark. You’re just using the outline as a basic template to trace a heart on the heatnbond. You can just trace right over it. Or just google ‘heart template’ and you’ll find a ton of other hearts to choose from. Hope that helps!

This is so cute! I love it! I’ve been wanting to make some Valentine’s Pillows but my craft room is in the middle of a mini-remodel so there is stuff all over the place – not great for sewing. Maybe I’ll have a few ready for next Valentine’s Day!

Amy, this is so sweet! I’ve recently started making pillows, and I want to try this one. I found it at The Seasoned Homemaker, and came over here to get a better look. Thanks for a great idea and a helpful tutorial! PINNED!